Macbeth Flashcards
(42 cards)
In Macbeth’s great speech about “If it were done when tis done” what is pity compared to?
A naked newborn babe
What does Lady Macbeth say to her husband she would do had she “so sworn as you / Have done to this”?
She would dash her own infant child’s brains against a rock
The Captain informs Duncan that “Doubtful it stood like two spent swimmers that do cling together and choke their art.” What is the “it” he refers to?
The outcome of the battle
Lady Macbeth urges her husband to do what while they plan to kill the king?
“look like th’ innocent flower / but be the serpent under’t”
What happens to the text between when Lady Macbeth is reading and when she is speaking?
The text switches from prose to poetry
When he finds out about the Prince of Cumberland appointment Macbeth says “stars hide your fires / Let not light see my black and deep desires.” This means what?
He wants the sky totally black so no one can see the horrible deeds he intends to do
What do the witches claim at the beginning of the play, “Macbeth”?
“Fair is foul and foul fair”
The porter claims that drink is a promoter of three things. What are they?
Sleep, nose-painting, and urine
Macbeth claims that he could not say what after murdering Duncan?
“Amen”
Right before he kills Duncan, Macbeth sees what object?
A dagger floating in front of him
What does Donalbain mean that “Where we are there are daggers in men’s smiles”?
People here are all smiling but one of them is a murderer and intends to kill us
Act 2 of Macbeth begins where?
Macbeth’s castle, Dunsinane
What does Lady Macbeth do to draw the attention of the thanes away from Macbeth?
She faints
When asked if he will go to Scone, MacDuff responds “No, cousin, I’ll to Fife”. Why does he say this?
He doesn’t want to see Macbeth made king at Scone, so he’s going home
After killing Duncan Macbeth says that “to know my deed ‘twere better not to know” what?
Myself
Macbeth claims aloud to the other thanes, “Oh I do repent me that I did kill them so.” Whom is saying he has killed?
The grooms
Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he has murdered not only Duncan but also what?
Sleep
“Hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, / Shoughs, water-rugs and demi-wolves, are clept / All by the name of” what?
They are clept by the name of dogs.
What does Macbeth mean when he says, “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus”?
My power as king is threatened by Banquo so I’m not safe
What guides Banquo’s “valour to act in safety”?
Wisdom
Where does Act 3 begin?
Forres, the palace
What does Macbeth tell the murderers to make them want to kill Banquo?
Banquo was your enemy
Act 3 begins with which character speaking?
Banquo
What TONE does Lennox use when he says in Act III.6, “The gracious Duncan / Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead: / And the right-valiant Banquo walk’d too late; / Whom, you may say, if’t please you, Fleance kill’d, / For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late.”?
Sarcastic
